Archives for March 5, 2019

Bitcoin price rallied recently and broke the $3,760 and $3,800 resistances against the US Dollar.The price ran into the most important resistance at $3,860, which prevented further upsides again.During the upside, there was a break above a key bearish trend line at $3,780 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).The pair is currently consolidating losses below $3,860, with supports at $3,800 and $3,775.Bitcoin price reversed most its losses and surged above $3,800 against the US Dollar. BTC is now facing a strong resistance at $3,860, above which it could test $4,000.Bitcoin Price AnalysisYesterday, bitcoin price broke the $3,720 support level and tested $3,670 against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair formed a low near the $3,672 level and later started a solid rebound. There was a break above a contracting triangle at $3,710, opening the doors for a fresh rally. The price surged higher and broke the $3,750 and $3,800 resistance levels. There was even a close above the $3,760 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average.More importantly, there was a break above a key bearish trend line at $3,780 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The pair even spiked above the most important resistance at $3,860. However, buyers failed to retain gains above the $3,860 resistance and the price retreated from highs. It corrected below the $3,850 and $3,840 level. There was also a break below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $3,672 low to $3,875 high.At the outset, the price is forming a consolidation pattern with support at $3,810. If there is a downside break below $3,810, the price could test the $3,775 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Besides, the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $3,672 low to $3,875 high is also near $3,775. The main support is near the $3,760 level, which was a resistance earlier. On the upside, the price must settle above the $3,860 resistance level to climb further higher.Looking at the chart, bitcoin price clearly reversed most its losses and traded above the key $3,760 resistance. BTC is now trading nicely above the 100 hourly SMA, but it must surpass the $3,860 barrier for more gains. If there is another rejection, the price could retreat and decline towards the $3,775 or $3,760 support area.Technical indicatorsHourly MACD – The MACD is currently in the bearish zone, with a few positive signs.Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD corrected lower, but it is well above the 50 level.Major Support Level – $3,800 followed by $3,775.Major Resistance Level – $3,850, $3,860 and 3,900.

The total crypto market cap rallied recently and tested the key $128.0B resistance level.Litecoin (LTC) price gained more than 12% and it broke the $52 resistance level.Bitcoin cash price recovered and traded above the $130 and $132 resistances.Tron (TRX) price found support near $0.0220 and it recovered above $0.0230.Binance coin (BNB) price extended gains and settled above the $13.00 resistance level.The crypto market rallied recently before bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) faced strong resistances. Ripple, litecoin, bitcoin cash, TRX, XLM and BNB are trading with a positive bias.Bitcoin Cash Price AnalysisBitcoin cash price found support near the $120 level and it recently recovered against the US Dollar. The BCH/USD pair broke the $125 and $130 resistance levels to move into a positive zone. The price is currently up more than 5% and it seems like the price is facing sellers near the $133-134 zone.If there is a downside correction, the previous resistance near the $130 level may act as a support. However, the main support is near the $125 level, where buyers are likely to protect losses.Litecoin (LTC), Tron (TRX) and Binance Coin (BNB) Price AnalysisLitecoin price found a strong buying interest near the $42 support level and it recently started a sharp upward move. LTC price rallied more than 12% and it broke the $48 and $50 resistance levels. The price is currently trading above the $52 level, with an immediate resistance near the $54 and $55 levels. On the downside, the $50 level is likely to act as decent support if there is a downside correction.Tron price found support near the $0.0220 level after a strong and steady decline. TRX price started a short term upside correction and traded above the $0.0230 and $0.0232 resistance levels. However, buyers are likely to face a strong resistance near the $0.0240 level.Binance coin (BNB) outperformed all major cryptocurrencies and rallied more than 15% in the past three sessions. BNB price cleared the $11.50 and $12.40 resistance levels. Finally, there was a break above the $13.00 barrier and the price settled above $13.40. The next important resistances are $14.00, $14.20 and $14.40.Looking at the total cryptocurrency market cap hourly chart, there was a strong support base formed near the $120.0B level. The market cap started a strong upward move and broke the $125.0B resistance. There was also a break above a major bearish trend line and the cap climbed above $126.0B. However, it ran into a significant resistance at $128.0B, which acted as a barrier once again. The current price action is positive and it seems like dips remain supported in bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, litecoin, ripple, BNB, BCH, TRX, ICX, XLM and other altcoins.

Ripple price stayed above the key $0.2970 support and bounced back against the US dollar.The price gained momentum above the $0.3020 and $0.3030 resistance levels to turn positive.Yesterday’s highlighted important bearish trend line was breached near $0.3030 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).The pair rallied above $0.3080 and $0.3100 before it faced sellers near $0.3170.Ripple price recovered sharply from lows against the US Dollar and bitcoin. XRP/USD settled above the key $0.3080 resistance, which could now act as a buy zone in the near term.Ripple Price AnalysisYesterday, there was a downside reaction in ripple price below the $0.3000 support against the US Dollar. The XRP/USD pair tested the $0.2970 support, where buyers emerged. Later, the price recovered above $0.3000 and started consolidating losses. Finally, sellers failed to push the price to a new intraday low, resulting in bullish moves above $0.3020. There was a sharp upward move and the price broke the $0.3030 resistance level.During the upward move, yesterday’s highlighted important bearish trend line was breached near $0.3030 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair even broke the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.3232 high to $0.2970 swing low. More importantly, there was a close above the $0.3080 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Finally, there was a break above the $0.3150 resistance before sellers emerged near the $0.3170 level.The 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.3232 high to $0.2970 swing low acted as a resistance. The price is currently correcting lower and trading below $0.3150. There is a strong support placed near the $0.3080 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. The next key support is at $0.3068, below which the price could move back into the bearish zone. If the 100 hourly SMA holds, the price is likely to bounce back above $0.3150. A clear break above the $0.3170 resistance may perhaps push the price towards the $0.3200 and $0.3220 resistance levels.Looking at the chart, ripple price climbed above key resistances near $0.3080, which are now likely to act as supports. However, buyers need to be active above $0.3080 and push the price above $0.3150. If they struggle, there is a risk of a fresh decline below $0.3080 in the near term.Technical IndicatorsHourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD moved back in the bearish zone, but with lack in momentum.Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD corrected lower from 75 and it recently tested the 50 level.Major Support Levels – $0.3080, $0.3068 and $0.3030.Major Resistance Levels – $0.3150, $0.3170 and $0.3200.

ETH price climbed higher sharply and broke the $127 and $130 resistances against the US Dollar.The price even broke the $134 resistance and retested the key $139 resistance level.Yesterday’s highlighted key bearish trend line was breached with resistance at $130 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).The pair rebounded nicely, but as long as it is below $139 and $140, it could decline once again.Ethereum price surged higher and cleared many hurdles against the US Dollar and bitcoin. However, ETH/USD is still below the key $139 resistance, which could result in a fresh drop.Ethereum Price AnalysisAfter a sharp decline, ETH price found support near the $122 level against the US Dollar. The ETH/USD pair started a solid recovery and broke the $124 and $127 resistance levels. Later, it broke the $130 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Besides, there was a break above the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $135 swing high to $122 swing low. It opened the doors for more gains and the price gained pace above $130 and $132.During the rise, yesterday’s highlighted key bearish trend line was breached with resistance at $130 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. Finally, there was a break above the $134 resistance and the price revisited the key $139 resistance. Sellers emerged near $139, resulting in a minor pullback. The price declined below the $136 and $135 levels. There was a spike below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $122 low to $139 high.However, the $134 support acted as a decent buy zone and the price started consolidating gains. The current price action suggests that there could be more losses below $134. The price could drop towards the $130 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average. The 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $122 low to $139 high is also near the $130 level to act as a support. The next key support is near the $129 level (the previous resistance).Looking at the chart, ETH price recovered nicely, but it faced a strong resistance near the $139 level. The stated level prevented gains earlier and it may continue to stop buyers near $139 and $140. As long as the price is below $139 and $140, it could decline once again in the near term.ETH Technical IndicatorsHourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is about to move back in the bearish zone.Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is currently correcting lower towards the 60 level, with a minor bearish angle.Major Support Level – $134Major Resistance Level – $139

Coinbase is taking steps to clarify statements made in the wake of its controversial acquisition of blockchain analytics firm Neutrino, a startup subsequently linked to Hacking Team, a startup that aided governments known for human rights abuses.

Although Coinbase declined to specify which former partner Sandler was referencing or what type of data was being commercialized in ways it objected to, it’s important to note that blockchain analytics companies sell aggregate wallet data (without names or identifying personal information) as their core proprietary product.

The standard norm across the industry is for analytics providers to collect anonymous transaction data and commercialize access to that information for customers seeking to investigate suspicious activity.

For example, Chainalysis co-founder Jonathan Levin explained to CoinDesk that firms often receive wallet and transaction information without names or other account information and use it to help customers across the ecosystem identify bad actors. He said they do not receive personal customer data and never sell data to external companies.

The competing analytics firm Elliptic confirmed in a blog post that it worked with Coinbase and wasn’t provided with “any personally identifiable information about their users.” It did provide other exchanges and clients with addresses and transactions associated with financial crimes, according to the blog post.

Although, the question of whether Coinbase would adopt a similar model, or look to other ways to monetize user data after its acquisition of Neutrino, was arguably ambiguous.

During an interview in February, Coinbase’s director of engineering and product, Varun Srinivasan, said the Neutrino team would continue serving external customers, turning other companies’ transaction data into a proprietary Coinbase offering.

A Coinbase spokesperson told CoinDesk on Tuesday that it will not “share broad sets of transaction and address information with vendors if it is beyond their immediate scope of work” as part of any offering.

The statements follow Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s blog post Monday in which he said that the company intends to “transition” out Neutrino employees associated with Hacking Team. However, at press time, this appears to have done little to quell user concerns.

Speaking to the widespread backlash over the news, former Coinbase user Eduardo Hernández, CEO of the investment startup Cryptico, told CoinDesk: “The lack of transparency is terrifying.”

User flight

While it’s unclear how many users have left the exchange, Hernández is one out of five former Coinbase users who told CoinDesk they closed their account after the Neutrino acquisition.

He said Armstrong’s blog post lacked accountability since the post emphasized the Hacking Team co-founders have “no current affiliation” with the controversial software provider.

Another former Coinbase user, who goes by his Twitter handle @Lowbtc, told CoinDesk he is concerned about his personal data because Coinbase has a track record of allegedly failing to punish misbehaving employees, referring to an ongoing lawsuit in California that claims exchange employees engaged in insider trading.

Fortune reported an internal investigation of the alleged insider trading at Coinbase concluded without any repercussions because leadership asserted no wrongdoing took place.

Speaking to that broader context, @Lowbtc, who opened his Coinbase account in 2013 and closed it promptly after the Neutrino acquisition, said:

“On top of the ethical failure, I also consider this a massive security risk, letting those people have access to customer data. It’s really frightening to think who has gained access to Coinbase customer data over the years.”

Best Way to Know Bitcoin Is Rat Poison Squared

“I’m all in yall! Just took out a 250k loan against my house and put it all into bitcoin. This dip feels like the perfect timing. LETS GOOO!!!”

On December 18, 2017, there was a precipitous drop in bitcoin’s price. It was massive cash out from Bitcoin’s all-time high price of $19,783.06. To some, the new price of USD $15,033.73 for 1 BTC seemed like a bargain worth thousands – or maybe more | Source: TradingView

I really hope “fiestaboy69” sold that bitcoin on New Year’s Day 2018. Or I don’t know, maybe that he didn’t sell a bit. And that fiestaboy69 has been working harder to pay on that mortgage. Which is good for him anyway while he waits and hodls bitcoin to the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter. Source: TradingView

This approach is appealing to those who have already seen their fortunes improve vastly from investing in bitcoin, or who believe it be the world’s reserve currency soon.

How To Know Bitcoin Is A Conservative Investment

A more sober, conservative approach to investing in bitcoin than considering the all-time high price of bitcoin and its future possibilities is to track bitcoin’s yearly price lows, which can be done here.

“In the years ahead, we hope to move much of our excess liquidity into businesses that Berkshire will permanently own. The immediate prospects for that, however, are not good: Prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects.”

Forget the fever for bull run profits off all time high bitcoin prices.

Savers and investors who are shopping for securities with Warren Buffett’s conservative value investing approach, if not his mind boggling amount of available cash to invest, can see from its yearly low prices that bitcoin possesses at least decent long-term prospects.

CoinSpice’s Hayden Otto, obviously a native of Australia, published a video today featuring himself traversing the economy of North Queensland, Australia, without using fiat currency at all. He was able to dine, drink, travel, get accommodations, and even have his laundry done – all with Bitcoin Cash. At one point in the video, he appears to pay nearly $4,000 AUD to take a helicopter tour of the region, followed by a motorcycle ride.

Many of the retailers would accept cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin Cash, but, according to Otto’s reporting, Bitcoin Cash has a large community as a result of its local meetup.

Bitcoin Cash: Cheaper Than Fiat or Bitcoin

As this reporter has noted in the past, the transaction fees on Bitcoin Cash are laughably small. For people who held Bitcoin prior to the original fork, it’s basically “free money.” Using Bitcoin Cash is shown to be convenient and easy. Most importantly, merchants seem to understand it.

While the Bitcoin community lauds second-layer solutions such as Lightning Network, which will arguably create another generation of adoption delays among merchants, Bitcoin Cash users just get down to business. Not to get off subject, but it is still possible to use Bitcoin directly on-chain. It’s just that fees are both unpredictable and occasionally very high. By comparison to other cryptos, that is. What Bitcoin lacks as a usable currency, it makes up for as a store of long-term value.

A Homogenous Crypto Ecosystem Becomes Less Likely By The Year

Partisans within the crypto movement have yet to accept “Bitcoin as gold, others as payment notes” as a normality. But it’s probably the only workable reality we’ll see in the near future. | Source: Shutterstock

As previously noted, Lightning Network adoption will take at least as long as Bitcoin adoption. Still, there are over 14,000 local businesses around the world that do currently accept Bitcoin Core, according to Coinmap.

Many of these are likely to accept Bitcoin Cash as well, as the infrastructure is still not all that different. However, according to AcceptBitcoin.cash, just 960 of the 2000 retailers they track accept Bitcoin Cash.

At the same time, the initiative itself is an example of the drive within the Bitcoin Cash community. It wants to prove itself as a viable alternative to Bitcoin. Nevertheless, markets have been unkind to the price of Bitcoin Cash. Especially since the Bitcoin SV hardfork from which neither version of Bitcoin Cash has ever recovered.

Merchant adoption is becoming a hot topic once again, after years in the background. Starbucks is spearheading a Bakkt-led initative to create payment crypto-enabled payment rails for merchants. Hardliners might still like to see “closed-loop” initiatives, in which some merchants are able to accept crypto payments as well as use them to pay for their costs and labor.

Crypto skeptic Frances Coppola recently received a ton of flak on Twitter for calling Bitcoin “a cult.” One of her more interesting points was that valuing cryptos in fiat money underlines a lack of actual faith in the currencies, hardening the belief that speculators remain the mass of crypto adopters.

I’m not pumping anything. I am lampooning the comment “to the moon”, which values Bitcoin in USD terms.

When the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto first released Bitcoin to the public, his goal was to remove the power governments and banks had over people’s money, and put the power back into the hands of the user.

You’re not sure where it will end up exactly or who will actually read it. But you type up a message, pay a couple of cents in bitcoin and click the “send” button. Your message zips through space – yes, space – then is broadcast out of a satellite, blanketing the world.

The result? A cosmic “message in a bottle” that’s become the latest novelty in the bitcoin technical community.

It’s all possible with the help of Blockstream satellite, an eccentric project released over a year ago with the goal of making bitcoin accessible for people without internet access. Sending messages has gotten easier since then, with the launch of spacebit.live, a simple website that allows users to pay a small fee (the default of which is 3 cents in bitcoin) to send a message via those satellites across the world.

So far, the results make an interesting study.

One message features a journal of some unknown person’s whimsical thoughts about life and bitcoin. “So here I am, left my job, I have some money to keep me up and I’m building my first raspberry pi lightning node, and broadcasting messages from satellites. Still feels surreal at times,” the diary reads, as retrieved by Twitter user “Grubles,” a Blockstream satellite user who frequently tweets about the technology.

“Still hard to grasp the fact, that I’m blanketing a big part of the Earth with my message, on demand, instantly. I wonder, does anybody [read this message]?” the same person wrote the next day.

“Love you,” they wrote on day 4.

What might be more surprising than the content, though, is the number of messages.

“Yo that’s crazy AF,” reads a message from another unknown user. Someone else sent a poem dedicated to the lightning network, and another sent an encrypted “rare pepe,” a limited edition card featuring the politically inflammatory frog meme.

Another user sent a note filled with gibberish with the handle of a popular Twitter user who left the social media site, “Dandarkpill,” tagged at the end.

“Back when I can find the light,” the cryptic message reads, implying Dandarkpill is planning to come back some day and chose to communicate this by satellite.

“We can’t be sure if it was him or if the message was broadcast from the ‘memecave’ but we remain hopeful that this is a signal to say he is fine and will return one day,” pseudonymous Spacebit.live creator “MediumSqueeze” told CoinDesk, calling them one of “our fallen soldiers.”

Space equipment for all

If Blockstream’s website is any indication, users are sending a lot of messages using the system, and more messages could soon be on their way. Today, the technology is testnet, but MediumSqueeze hopes it’ll move to bitcoin’s live network soon, meaning it will be used with real bitcoin.

To send a message, users pay a fee in lightning, the new payment network now being built on top of bitcoin. The platform is still experimental, but people have been eager to use it anyway. The fee should correspond to how much data the message contains. An image, for example, might require more data, and thus might be more expensive than if you broadcast just a sentence.

“Blockstream made available an API which takes a message and returns a lightning network invoice, upon receipt of the invoice the message is sent to the satellite teleport then the payload is broadcast to the satellite array,” MediumSqueeze explains.

While spacebit.live and the Blockstream API make it pretty easy to send a message, a user needs a satellite receiver (for now) to retrieve them.

In theory, anyone could run a satellite. It costs about $100 to buy the necessary equipment.

Long-time Bitcoin Core contributor and former Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell, for example, posted photos of his satellite receiver setup to Bitcoin Talk, giving other users tips on putting it together.

But, why?

So, what’s the point? Is it just a novelty or is there actually a reason to use bitcoin to send messages through space? It’s perhaps a bit of both.

“Right now, it’s just for fun,” MediumSqueeze told CoinDesk.

But some developers think the technology opens up new avenues. Bitcoin podcast host Ansel Lindner sees it as having potential for whistleblowers, people who expose the unethical actions of governments or corporations to the rest of the world. That’s because they can use it to broadcast anonymous messages that can’t be censored, which he doesn’t think is possible any other way.

“It could be used anonymously to broadcast a message to the world. It can’t be stopped by a mainstream media outlet, Internet Service Provider (ISP) or government, ” he told CoinDesk, adding:

“Posting it on a third party site like social media is censorable, even with an anonymous account. Your own website would be less so, but they can find you more easily. Encrypted message/email or whatever would be censorable by going after a few people. Broadcasting it globally would be very hard to stop.”

Still, others see it as a way to continue to further voice bitcoin’s ethos.

“This kind of network is not for posting WhatsApp messages, this is strictly 21st-century cypherpunk,” MediumSqueeze said, referencing a group of technologists from the 1990s who advocated for the use of cryptography to bring about political change.

So far, this seems to be the most well-developed application as the unknown diarist from our introductory section would go on to prove with his fifth message.

“Without bitcoin I wouldn’t have too much faith for the future,” it reads, adding:

“I think I will tell this tale for my grandkids one day. Maybe in a post-civilization wasteland, but still.”

It’s no secret that crypto investors have been on a rollercoaster for years, but unfortunately this ride has been on its descending arch for the past year. Despite this, there are still plenty of ways to profit in the markets, including depositing your cryptocurrency in a high-interest account in exchange for unprecedented interest rates.The Gemini-backed BlockFi is now allowing users to deposit Ethereum and Bitcoin into accounts that pay 6.2% annually, which is an unprecedented interest rate considering that most banks pay clients a mere 0.08% on their fiat savings.Is BlockFi’s New Product the Highest Yielding Deposit Account in Finance?Although 6% annually may seem like peanuts compared to the exponential gains that crypto investors bore witness to throughout 2017, during the bear market earning 6% on one’s crypto stash is not a bad deal and could allow users to accumulate more Bitcoin or Ethereum that could ultimately be worth significantly more in the future – assuming the markets climb from their current position.The new accounts, which were announced today, will pay users their interest on a monthly basis, and all incurred interest will be subject to compounding, which will raise the APR from 6% to 6.2%.“Today we are launching the BlockFi interest Account (BIA). Users can securely store Bitcoin or Ether at BlockFi and receive 6% annual interest, paid monthly in cryptocurrency! BIA interest compounds monthly, delivering an industry-leading APY of 6.2%.”Today we are launching the BlockFi interest Account (BIA). Users can securely store Bitcoin or Ether at BlockFi and receive 6% annual interest, paid monthly in cryptocurrency! BIA interest compounds monthly, delivering an industry-leading APY of 6.2%. https://t.co/QmkRVxOBQ7pic.twitter.com/Gn247S6LAw— BlockFi (@TheRealBlockFi) March 5, 2019Pomp, the co-founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital – who invested in BlockFi – explained earlier today that this new product is surging in popularity due to the unprecedented interest rates that are being offered.“My expectation is that the number of deposits, along with total amount deposited, will quickly grow month-over-month. Simply, it is hard to beat 6.2% annual percentage yield for a deposit account,” Pomp said.Furthermore, Pomp also noted that all the funds being deposited into these accounts will be highly secure, as they will be held at Gemini.“BlockFi will hold customer’s crypto with Gemini, one of the leading custody providers in the space. Gemini recently announced digital asset insurance coverage and the completion of its SOC 2 Type 1 security compliance review of its exchange and custodian platform.”Although there may be some traditional investment vehicles that offer higher annual returns on investments via dividends, it is very rare – if not impossible – to find a product that guarantees returns of this magnitude without being subject to large risks.BlockFi’s New Product Surges in PopularityFor obvious reasons, it appears that BlockFi’s new product is already a hit amongst investors, even though it was just released earlier today.Brad Michelson, the director of marketing at BlockFi, said in a recent tweet that the company’s site has seen a massive influx in volume since the product was launched, concluding that “2019 is going to be a fun year.”“The volume on our site from the BlockFi Interest Account launch has been insane. Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming feedback. 2019 is going to be a fun year.”The volume on our site from the BlockFi Interest Account launch has been insane. Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming feedback. 2019 is going to be a fun year.— Brad Michelson (@BradMichelson) March 5, 2019Although users who deposit their crypto into the account will not be able to avoid the volatility of their respective cryptocurrencies, they will at least be able to increase their holdings in hopes that the markets soon recover.Featured image from Shutterstock.